Apple Admits to Court that Samsung Will Draw More Customers from Android than iOS

Early today, we have reported that the U.S. judge declined to issue a preliminary injunction barring Samsung from selling several of its Galaxy smartphone and tablet devices in the United States. We have also mentioned the court order that had been redacted and which revealed that Apple had licensed one specific iOS interface patent to both Nokia and IBM. Now Reuters reports how this court order came to light.

In her 65-page ruling denying Apple's request for a preliminary injunction against Samsung, Koh attempted to redact nearly two dozen sentences or short fragments. But because of a formatting characteristic in the prior electronic version, the redacted material can be viewed by copying text from the PDF and pasting it into another document.

In the court order Koh cites as part of her rationale Apple's admission that Samsung is more likely to take market share from other Android manufacturers than it is from Apple.

According to the redacted portions, Apple's own studies show that existing customers are unlikely to switch from iPhones to Samsung devices. Instead, the evidence suggests an increase in sales of Samsung smartphones is likely to come at the expense of other smartphones with Android operating systems, Koh wrote.

Though such admission is not something really surprising, it is interesting to see Apple's formal admission of the relatively low risks Samsung poses to Apple's current user base. But Apple continues claiming that Samsung's infringement is a threat for those users who have just moved to smartphones for the first time.  In the court order Samsung suggested that Apple shouldn't be awarded an injunction due to its impossibility of being able to keep up with demand for smartphone devices by itself.